Young India Network for Good Health

This International Youth Day 2025 , let us recommit to listening to local voices , investing in school ecosystems , and delivering on the promises we make to young people . By: Chetan Suwalka | Young India Network for Good health | Nada India Foundation Date of Visit: July 28, 2025 Location: Govt. Sr. Secondary School, Sanwar, Udaipur District, Rajasthan Discovery – Listening to the Ground Every year on August 12th , the world celebrates International Youth Day , recognizing the courage, leadership, and contributions of young people. In 2025, the spotlight is on local youth action —how young changemakers are transforming global goals into real, grassroots solutions. As part of my role as a local convener under the Nada Young India Network for Good Health and Nada India Foundation , I visited Govt. Sr. Secondary School, Sanwar to understand how youth policies are being experienced and enacted at the school and community level.  The school presented a mixed picture. On ...

The inclusion of trained school social workers is vital for addressing the rising threat of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) within India's educational institutions. While challenges persist, the potential for impactful change is immense. By empowering social workers and integrating them into school environments, India can effectively tackle this crisis, advancing wellness, disease prevention, and the creation of healthy campuses as envisioned in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The future of social work within education holds great promise, with far-reaching implications for the nation's health. In today's rapidly evolving world, India's educational institutions face an unprecedented rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors, including tobacco, alcohol, and now digital addictions like gaming. The growing prevalence of these issues among youth presents a major challenge, calling for a well-coordinated prevention strategy within schools and...

"Empowering Youth: Building Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions through Community Profiling,"  Siya Chohan student of UPES, Dehradoon  and Nada Volunteer    In our late teens, while my friends turned to smoking weed, I stood firm in my decision to abstain. Despite their respect for my choice, I couldn't ignore the toll weed was taking on their health and behavior. Concerned by their growing lethargy and detachment, I took a stand and voiced my worries. Thankfully, they listened, and together, we sought out healthier alternatives like hiking and sports to replace their weed habit. Through open conversations and professional support, we navigated a challenging journey marked by relapses and doubts, but ultimately, persistence led to their recovery. This experience taught me the value of compassion and perseverance in helping others overcome addiction, and it deepened my commitment to a drug-free lifestyle.  Reflecting on today's Youth Forum, led by Mr. Shabab A...

Heady childhood Marijuana addiction is coming out of universities and into schools with children as young as 11 experimenting with it Veenu Sandhu   March 19, 2016  "Doctor, have you tried marijuana?" "No" "Then how do you know it is bad?" Brahmdeep Sindhu, senior psychiatrist at the Civil Hospital in Gurgaon, was stumped when a 14-year-old from a prominent school threw this question at him. "The child then went to great lengths, quoting blogs he had read on the internet, to convince me why he, many of his classmates and some of his juniors, children as young as 12, thought it was harmless, even beneficial, to smoke up." Every month, 15 to 20 new cases of schoolchildren, boys and girls, are brought by their parents to Sindhu for counselling. They are all hooked to cannabis: often marijuana  (the leaf of the plant) and sometimes hashish (extracted from the plant's resin). Far away from Gurgaon, i...

Times of India The complaint was lodged after one of the girls told her family that the principal allegedly behaved indecently, used invectives, entered their mosquito curtains at night and gave them alcohol to drink, the sources said. Social Welfare Minister ... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Complaint-against-principal-for-giving-girl-students-alcohol/articleshow/15353880.cms

KOLKATA: The age at which an average person begins drinking hard liquor has dropped from 28 years a decade ago to 18 now, an indication that a sizeable number of school students is consuming alcohol. With 16% of drinkers turning alcoholics in India, the decline in drinking age can potentially trigger an explosion in the number of people suffering from alcoholism. A person is labelled an alcoholic if he or she has the urge to consume alcohol daily and downs more than two pegs. "Not only do a lot of children experiment with alcohol at a very tender age, the social acceptance of drinking in urban areas is expanding the vulnerable group. While not everyone who drinks liquor turns alcoholic, the lower the age of consumption, higher the chance of a person becoming addicted to alcohol," socio psychologist Nandini Chatterjee said on the sidelines of a meet organized by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a support group for alcoholics. While de-addiction from alcohol and dea...

NEW DELHI, July 25 -- In what is coming across as a disturbing trend, school students between 10 and 16 years of age are turning to counsellors to fight addiction to drugs and intoxicants. The helpline Yuva, jointly run by the Delhi government 's education department and the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), receives five calls related to substance abuse on an average per day. The helpline receives calls from students, parents as well as teachers on varied issues. More lately, it is getting calls on substance abuse as well. "We have been receiving at least five calls every day from school students who are finding it difficult to concentrate on studies as they have become addicted to various substances. Several of them have stopped attending classes as they are not able to concentrate for a longer period," said an education department official. These students use thinner, correction fluid and glues, etc. According to the helpline, mo...

  "Stern action will be taken against them once they are discharged from the hospital." Is this the only way to deal with issue at school level.... Please give your comments  KOLKATA: Four Class-VII students of a high school in Agarpara in North 24 parganas fell ill after allegedly consuming alcohol in school on Saturday. they allegedly consumed alcohol in the school on Saturday afternoon. They were admitted to hospital and one among them was reported to be critical. while one of them was stated to be critical. The four students had brought two bottles filled with liquor in their school bag, alleged sources. During the tiffin period, they sneaked out the bottles and drank the liquor. It was after some time that they complained of stomach ache and vomiting. At the tiffin period they drank it at a corner of the school premises and soon they were feeling unwell. They also complained of vomiting and acute pain in their stomach.Suspecting something was wrong the ot...

When is the last time you got drunk? "i am drinking right now and u have no clue how much trouble I'm having to get all the spellings right." Imagine a pretty 22-year-old Mumbai girl sitting in front of her computer and peering at a digital audition form for music channel MTV's ongoing reality show, The Real World, meant for youngsters with "one big dream to be famous". "I am not a party animal," she insists. "I drink just to have a good time. I am a good girl." She is not the only one with a glass in her hand. Youngistan is talking bottles, pegs, pints and shots with the ease of seasoned drinkers, raising a toast to everything: Birthdays to cricket matches, before and after exams, to stave off boredom or the blues. And if opportunity knocks, an unusually high percentage are drinking until they land in trouble. In a country known for abstinence, the age-old notions of who drinks what, where, when and why are changing dramat...

Alcohol Alert Indian Express Teenage drinkers are more likely to feel like social outcasts when surrounded by fellow students who tend to avoid alcohol, which eventually affects their academic performances, a new sociological study has revealed. The study showed alcohol consumption leads to increased social stress and poor grades, especially among students in schools with tightly connected friendship cliques and low levels of alcohol abuse. For their study, Robert Crosnoe, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, Aprile Benner, an assistant professor of human ecology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Barbara Schneider, a professor of sociology and education at Michigan State University, analyzed National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data on 8,271 adolescents from 126 schools. Add Health, which began in 1994, is the largest and most comprehensive survey of health-related behavior among adolescents between grad...

The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought the Centre's response on a plea by students of a private school seeking ban on sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around educational institutions. A bench of Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw sought the Centre's reply on students' plea and listed the matter for further hearing on January 4. While the plea had been made by civil society Uday Foundation, the Father Angel School students today sought to be made party to the court proceeding on the plea for ban on sale of junk food and aerated drinks in and around schools. "Ban such evidently harmful foods and beverages from the canteen of the schools and from their immediate neighbourhoods," said the students' plea. The bench also asked the Centre to file a status report after its counsel said it has asked all the states to take adequate measure in this regard and various states have sent their action-taken-report on the issue. The plea als...

National Policy for prevention in India Category:   Freedom ,  Policy ,  Prevention ,  Rehabilitation Email Share on Twitter Share on Facebook The Government of India  is proposing to formulate a comprehensive National Policy on issues related to the prevention of the abuse of alcohol and other drugs.  This  policy would cover a wide range of issues such as prevention , treatment and rehabilitation aspects as well as institutional mechanisms and convergence of programmes in order to address the problem in India. It will be interesting to see the formulation process of the National Policy  in the light of the statement. I will keep you posted about the developments, for sure.

Alcohol use and its consequences in South India : Views from a ... Alcohol use and its consequences in South India: Views from a marginalised tribal population. Posted on June 30, 2011 by admin ... < http://www. interventionnation al.com/ alcohol-use-and-its- con sequences-in-south-india- views -from-a-marginalised- tribal- population/ > School kids oppose alcohol ban in Gujarat : India: India Today School kids in Vadodara district of Gujarat oppose alcohol ban, make films. < http://indiatoday.intoday.in/ site/video/school-kids-oppose- alcohol-ban-in-gujarat/1/ 14310 2.html >